Longing and Belonging

In Calcutta Exile, Bunny Suraiya has written an endearing tale of a small but significant section of Calcutta society in the late 50s and 60s. The theme of the novel is as much an evocation of the Calcutta of the past as a search for the meaning of home.

In Calcutta Exile, her promising first novel, Bunny Suraiya has written an endearing tale of a small but significant section of Calcutta society in the late 50s and 60s. The Raj has receded from all over India but, as the author puts it...'the glorious city of Calcutta (is) still lit with the last rays of the golden high summer of Empire'. The theme of the novel is as much an evocation of the Calcutta of the past as a search for the meaning of home.

Central to the story is an Anglo-Indian family: Robert Ryan, his wife Grace and their grown daughters Shirley and Paddy. Robert has a comfortable home, an adoring family and a cushy job as a covenanted assistant in the British firm, Barton Ferne. But he is restless. Proud of his British heritage, culture and language. he is disdainful of the people of the country and yearns to go 'home' to England. Robert's wife and daughters, while dutifully supporting his purpose, do not share his obsession, each content for the time to find her place in the country.

While Robert can't wait to go 'home', his British boss, Peter Wilson, is in no hurry to do so. Peter knows that, as a Burra Saab, he and his family enjoy a quality of life in India they could never experience in their home country. Peter is set to wangle a five-year extension on his tenure, if he can. The thorn in Robert's side is a 27-year-old Indian, Ronen Mookerjee, who has recently joined Barton Ferne as a covenanted assistant in the same grade as 45-year-old Robert and enjoys an easy, comfortable relationship with Peter Wilson, the boss. Robert is later to learn that Mookerjee, who has a degree from King's College, London, will supervise his work. Ironically, Ronen resents Robert as well. Trapped in a loveless marriage and lamenting his lost opportunity at finding real love, Ronen envies Robert for his happy home.

The relationship between Robert's daughter, Paddy and Karambir Singh, the scion of a princely family of Bikaner, intensifies the shadow falling on Robert while challenging his set notion of what it is to be Indian. Karam, who has schooled in England, is at home in both cultures and his charm, courtly with adults and easy with his peers, wins over everybody at Robert's Christmas party. Bunny Suraiya glances gently at Robert's cultural quandary. Contemptuous of the ways of contemporary India he struggles to understand the nuances of life in Britain through his be-mused perusal of Tit Bits and John Bull. "The thing is, it's all very different from here, men." It was on the tip of Grace's tongue to say, "Then why do we have to go?"

Exploring another layer in relationships, Bunny Suraiya shows deep affection for an institution of the Calcutta of the 60s'the domestic help. Their own lives left behind and remote, they are integral to the well-being of the homes they share. In the Ryans' home, Ayah and Apurru are an archetype of unconditional devotion. "Both the girls loved Apurru almost as much as they loved Ayah, and when they were small he had spent hours holding them in his cross-legged lap, cracking open monkey nuts between his thin strong fingers and popping the kernels into their mouths while telling them stories of his village near Chittagongâ€¦" But changing times and Robert's restlessness turn their thoughts to home.

This is a beautiful book with haunting images of a place from where we have all been exiled-by time.